Job Discussion Forums

[Alitas]

Ok, guys, I am taking a graduate course in Adolescent Literacy and Teacher Research Methods. I'm addicted to message boards, and this one in particular I really like. Mostly because I enjoy reading about international teaching experiences and other culture's reactions to English teachers. TEFL is thrilling to me I teach Spanish in a small enclave of the world where there ARE NO SPANISH SPEAKERS WITH WHOM TO PRACTICE. Perhaps you wise sages of Dave's Cafe can look at my teacher wonderings, apply your own set of experiences and let me know what you think?

1. Does encouraging a mix of Spanish/English communication bolster retention of Spanish?

2. Do peer editing and group editing improve mechanics and grammar in written language?

3. Good vs. Bad Spanish--will learning phrases/words that aren't 100% correct but USED in the language encourage real communication?

4. Will focusing on Hispanic culture lead to an increased desire to learn the language?



As I said...apply your own experiences teaching English someplace where there's not a lot of authentic English speakers, and you get the gist.

Eagerly awating responses.

[Roger]

1) Keep Spanish classes as Spanish as possible! No English adulteration there!
2) Peers as fellow teachers is a good idea! In fact, this is one of the things we should implement in TEFL/TESL too - often ignored. What I mean is, the pairing-up of students to practise a second tongue orally can be counterproductive as they may mutually reinforce and fossilise poor language. They should speak in front of the class, with the whole class acting as "editors" or teachers!

My opinion often is at odds with that of recently-graduated TEFLers, but I have not seen much good in how modern methods work, especially those that focus on oral practice. I hold your students need to get a thorough grounding in the target language, and that is possible (almost) only by becoming literate - so have them read, read and then read some more.
They won't need to "internalise" commonplaces ("how are you?" "I am fine, and you?") as they can learn how to socially interact from the characters they discover in literature.

[denise]

Re. peer editing and good/bad Spanish (English, in my case)

I am all for peer editing. I have my writing students exchange papers regularly. I have tried to "train" them to do it--we practice with a sample paper, I give them specific prompts (e.g., "look for the author's thesis sentence...," "on a scale of 1 to 6, how well organized is it, and WHY?"), and we discuss possible answers to those prompts. I try to get them to be as SPECIFIC as possible--don't just say it's a good paper or a bad paper, but tell the author exactly what is good or bad about it. To get my students to take peer editing more seriously, I grade them on it.

Why do it??? I can think of three reasons.

1) the most obvious--it helps the author--gives him or her another set of eyes to catch mistakes

2) it helps the reviewer--if he or she notices something, either an error or an unfamiliar structure, he/she might also be able to catch that same error in or apply that same structure to his/her own writing

3) it makes writing less mysterious, and hopefully a wee bit more realistic. If the teacher is the only audience, students might not see writing as a valid task--it just becomes yet another classroom activity. Having another student read it expands the audience (OK, not by much...)

As far as teaching good/bad language--

I am all for teaching "real" language--what students will really hear on the streets. That said, though, I generally only do it with advanced levels, and with students who have shown a tendency/skill at analyzing language--students who would recognize and understand the differences between "correct" and "street" language and know when to use which version. And of course I'd make sure that they also knew the "correct" form.

d

[Corey]

1. Are you teaching to native English-speakers?

2. I don't have any stats but I don't think it could hurt.

3. Half the native Spanish-speakers that I know use "bad" Spanish and couldn't tell the difference.

4. Yes.